About the show

The Heart of the Ark podcast is an initiative from the Office for Evangelization in the Archdiocese of Newark. We're coming to you to bring knowledge and courage as we voyage through this life as missionary disciples of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Hosted by Fr. John Gordon, Director of the Office for Evangelization and Secretary of Evangelization for the Archdiocese of Newark, and Jennifer Behnke, Associate Director of Evangelization, our aim is to help equip our listeners to better know, love and serve God.

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Episodes

  • Episode 67: Dilexit Nos in a Year - Session 14- Venerating His Image

    May 16th, 2025  |  21 mins 39 secs
    beauty, catholic, church, evangelization, goodness, ministry, mission, prayer, service, truth

    Pope Francis continues Chapter 3 of Dilexit Nos with paragraphs 52-58, recognizing the importance of right order for worship. Apart from the person of Jesus Christ, the image of His heart is not meant to be a image of worship, especially not in the context of liturgy. But is to only and always be a devotional symbol meant to bring us to recognize the Divine Love incarnate in all aspects of His divinity and humanity.

  • Episode 66: Dilexit Nos in a Year - Session 13 - Worshiping Christ

    May 9th, 2025  |  17 mins 31 secs
    beauty, catholic, church, evangelization, goodness, ministry, mission, prayer, service, truth

    Pope Francis begins Chapter 3 of Dilexit Nos with paragraphs 48-51, clarifying the church's historical precedence for preferring the devotion to the Sacred Heart above other devotions as it is the inseparable from the person of Jesus Christ and the unbounded love of Christ for us.

  • Episode 65: "Seeing God Face to face" - Catholic funerals and evangelization with Fr. Peter Wehrle

    May 6th, 2025  |  30 mins 10 secs
    beauty, catholic, church, evangelization, goodness, ministry, mission, prayer, service, truth

    Jen takes a trip to Our Lady of the Lake in Verona, and speaks to Fr. Peter Wehrle about facing grief, which can be one of the most challenging moments in life, and offering families accompaniment, listening, and Christ's welcome from darkness to light.

  • Episode 64: Dilexit Nos in a Year - Session 12 - Jesus' Words

    May 2nd, 2025  |  16 mins 52 secs
    beauty, catholic, church, evangelization, goodness, ministry, mission, prayer, service, truth

    Pope Francis concludes Chapter 2 of Dilexit Nos with paragraphs 43-47, highlighting Jesus' words of love and expressions of deep emotion, passion, and compassion in the gospel accounts. From scriptures, we can be assured of Christ's love for us in word and deed, as it was in the beginning, now, and for all the ages to come. Christ loves us.

  • Episode 63: Dilexit Nos in a Year - Session 11 - Jesus' Gaze

    April 25th, 2025  |  18 mins 34 secs
    beauty, catholic, church, dilexitnos, evangelization, goodness, ministry, mission, prayer, service, truth

    Pope Francis continues Chapter 2 of Dilexit Nos with paragraphs 39-42, highlighting Jesus' modeling of the importance of seeing, beholding, and being present to those we seek to heal and call.

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    Episode 62: Dilexit Nos in a Year - Session 10 - Actions and Words of Love

    April 18th, 2025  |  18 mins 51 secs
    beauty, catholic, church, evangelization, goodness, ministry, mission, prayer, service, truth

    Pope Francis begins Chapter 2 of Dilexit Nos, by speaking about way Jesus embodied closeness and tenderness, in action as much as in speech. He embodied the myriad expressions of touch, tenderness and closeness that we are to imitate in our service of others.

  • Episode 61: Dilexit Nos in a Year - Session 9 - The world can change, beginning with the Heart

    April 11th, 2025  |  17 mins 54 secs
    beauty, catholic, church, evangelization, goodness, ministry, mission, prayer, service, truth

    Pope Francis speaks about the radical remaking of the world, which is only possible when the transformational power of God's love is fully embraced and lived in the relationship between Christ and His Disciples.

  • Episode 60: "The God who never breaks His promises" with Fr. Alex Gaitan

    April 11th, 2025  |  40 mins 40 secs
    beauty, catholic, church, evangelization, goodness, ministry, mission, prayer, service, truth

    Jen speaks with Fr. Alex Gaitan, who offers a meditation for Holy Week and the cross as the ultimate promise of salvation. Fr. Alex is the Coordinator for the Migrant Ministry in the Archdiocese of Newark and helps us to contemplate the sacredness of God in a profound identification with the suffering and vulnerable.

  • Episode 59: Dilexit Nos in a Year - Session 8 - Seek not for the light, but for the fire

    April 4th, 2025  |  17 mins 9 secs
    beauty, catholic, church, evangelization, goodness, ministry, mission, prayer, service, truth

    Pope Francis speaks about the difference between a knowledge of a relationship with heart, versus knowing data with the intellect. He introduces this importance to understanding the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, and the writings of St. Bonaventure and St. John Henry Newman.

  • Episode 58: Dilexit Nos in a Year - Session 7 - We were made to love and to be loved

    March 28th, 2025  |  11 mins 50 secs
    beauty, catholic, church, evangelization, goodness, ministry, mission, prayer, service, truth

    Pope Francis closes this section of the heart uniting the fragments, by recognizing the profound core of our being in the purpose for which we were 'made to love and to be loved'.

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    Episode 57: Dilexit Nos in a Year - Session 6 - The Heart unites the fragments

    March 21st, 2025  |  14 mins 54 secs
    beauty, catholic, church, evangelization, goodness, ministry, mission, prayer, service, truth

    Dilexit Nos in a Year - Session 6 - Chapter 1 Paragraphs 17-19
    Pope Francis notes the unifying and discerning action of "seeing with the heart." Through the example of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we can begin to put together knowledge and insight to holistically understand the reality of God's presence in our lives.

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    Episode 56: Dilexit Nos in a Year - Session 5 - Why are you here, Elijah?

    March 14th, 2025  |  14 mins 30 secs
    beauty, catholic, church, evangelization, goodness, ministry, mission, prayer, service, truth

    Pope Francis asks us to contemplate a return to the hearts the integrated part of our being, that fully encapsulates all that we are. Beyond any one system of study, we are a complex human being fully integrated as soul, and body, with mind, spirit, thought, will and emotional capabilities. At the center of this authentic, unique system is the fundamental heart of a human.